Letter from Dora Giffen to her family, April 3, 1922

1)
34 Geziret Badran,
Shubra, Cairo.
Monday, April 3, 1922

Dearest Family:

I am sitting in the drawing-room out here at the Orphanage writing. It is ten o'clock in the morning but I am not going to classes this morning. Gertrude and Brainerd Jamison just left the house an hour ago and I suppose are on their way to Alexandria by this time. They left on a special train, which is carrying passengers to their boat which leaves this afternoon. Cousin Edna went into town this morning but did not stop at the station. Instead she went to the hospital to see Uncle John and has just phoned that he seems a little better (this morning). I came out at eight o'clock to be with Aunt Elizabeth while Edna is in town. Aunt E. and Edna expect to go into Alexandria this afternoon to stay for a few days, and while gone we'll close up the house here.

The past week has been a very strenuous one for Aunt Elizabeth and Edna, and also the Jamisons. I will begin with where I left off in my last letter, which was written a week ago Sat. night, - and this is Monday. On Sabbath morning (a week ago) I did not go to church but instead went to the hospital to see how Uncle John was. They were having Communion out here at the Orphanage and they thought it would worry Uncle John if he thought they had missed Communion on his account, so I went in their place and then came on out and reported; and then stayed until four o'clock, P.M. I found Uncle John a great deal brighter and seemingly much better. (At dinner-time Wallace Jamison took sick so Mr. Jamison went for Dr. Hutchison (Harry) and by the time he got here Wallace was all broken out with what they thought was the measles. My! But they were relieved on Monday to find out that it was not measles but tonsillitis with irathema (not spelled correctly but it sounds like that). However with a sick boy on their hands they have been kept very busy all week, especially since neither Gertrude nor Brainerd have been well. They certainly need to get to America and I am glad they are off at last. Wallace got up on Friday and has been around ever since. Before I left Sabbath I took care of Paul for a while and then accompanied Aunt E. and Edna to the Hospital where we found Uncle John worse and not at all the same man 2) after. It was a double bronchial pneumonia that Uncle John had and the doctors gave him up entirely. Dr. Henry was in Cairo on his way to Alexandria, - they go to America on the same boat that the Jamisons do, - and Dr. Hegi called him in consultation. I stayed out at the Orphanage all day Tuesday but went back to Shubra Tues. evening. Aunt Elizabeth had gone to the Hospital Tues. morning and Edna had come out to the Orphanage to rest a little. She and Aunt E. both stayed in at the Alexanders all night Tues. and Wed. Uncle John kept about the same until Thurs. when he seemed to be getting better, so since the Hoymans came in to Alexanders to occupy the room that they (Aunt E. and Edna) had been occupying, they came back out to the Orphanage Thurs. night. On Friday Uncle John was still better and I think it was Saturday that Edna sent the cable home saying that he was better. But Sat. night and Sabbath morning he was worse again and last night they feared that he would go. But Edna was worn out, so did not stay in at the hospital. This morning he was better again - could swallow easier, would drink some milk, (he had been refusing nourishment) and seemed rational. Edna is home now. She went right to bed as soon as she got home. (Mr. Acheson brought her back in his Ford.) I got her some warm milk to drink and I think she is sleeping now. She is really sick herself and ought to be in bed all of the time. Aunt Elizabeth feels pretty well, with the exception of a pain in the back of her head, which stays with her most, if not all, of the time.

So that is just how things are now. We can't tell what will happen. If Uncle John is taken, you will no doubt hear of it by cable before this reaches you. We can't help but feel that he himself feels that his work on earth is done, and that he wants to go. I was out at the Orphanage Thurs. afternoon for a while to see Aunt Elizabeth, and was in at the hospital for a little while one other day but did not go in to see Uncle John then as few people were seeing him. When he was rational it taxed his brain so to remember people. If it is not too much trouble I wish you would let Mrs. Sleeth know something of what I have written you. I am sure Aunt Elizabeth would appreciate it. That is, if you can make anything out of what I have written: I have written it in such piece-meal form.

I thought of Willard on his birthday but did not get time to write anything. Our Class of ‘19 letter came last week and I eagerly perused the letters of those who had written. By the way, Willard, I owe something to our class on that letter, - for publishing, etc. I am sending a check home for twenty five dollars. (I am ashamed, very ashamed, that I have not gotten said check off long before this. But if Mr. Caldwell is prompt in answering I will have it to put in my next letter.) Well, Willard, I wish you would take a dollar out of that, or more if I owe it, for class dues. I also suppose I ought to pay as much as that for Alumni Ass’n dues.

Fifteen dollars out of that twenty-five is for my N.W.M. Pledge, three or so dollars of it is for my United Presbyterian 3) subscription, and the rest is just for the little odds and ends that I owe and have owed for some time and for which there is not much left.

Monday afternoon, 6 o'clock. At Shubra. I have been back about an hour. Mrs. Reynolds with Miss Buchanan's car stopped at the Orphanage about 4:30 for us, took us over to the Hospital where Aunt E. And Edna got out, then went over to Alexanders and left their things, and brought me almost to my door on her way home. I stopped for just a minute at the hospital but there was practically no change in Uncle John since this morning. Yesterday afternoon Mrs. Coventry and I stopped on our way to church. He was asleep, so I peeked in; but this afternoon he was awake when Aunt E. went in, so I did not go. I think he recognized Aunt E. this P.M.

Miss Ella Barnes has been sick with the flu ever since a week ago yesterday. She is better, will likely be up tomorrow, and is to have Uncle John's Mohammed to cook for her. They dismissed their “new” second servant this afternoon; the one that has been taking the place of Mohammed's son, who stole that sixty pounds (which, all told, was the amount that they missed) from Uncle Johns this spring. The trial finally came off last Tues. morning, when Uncle John was sick in the hospital and Edna could not go. It was while I was at the Orphanage so I helped take care of Paul so that Mr. Jamison could go. The boy, Hassan, got four months in jail and that was practically all that was done. It seems that both the boy and his father thought he would get off “scott free.”

Sara Adair has had the “flu” which left her throat in such a bad condition that a day or so ago a slight operation had to be performed on an abscess which had formed. She is back at the College and we hope will be better soon. Miss Roxy Martin has been having a bad dose of the flu, but it is better.

I am so sorry Martin had that little set-back after the “flu,” and hope that he is entirely over it now with no ill-effects.

I would have liked to have written to Aunt Margaret, but have not, so when any of you see her please give her my love.

Aunt Dora is another one to whom I owe a letter. I wish, Mother, that you would let her know (through Grandma's letter perhaps) that I have just gotten one towel for her. They were so very expensive that I thought I would just send her two instead of the half dozen she asked for. Then when I came to send them to Cousin Margaret, one towel took up so much room that I felt I could not ask Cousin Margaret to take more than one, besides the other small things I was sending. I got some things ready, to send to Cousin Margaret, last Saturday and hope to get them off to her tomorrow. The package is for you. I am just sending some small things for each but I have not attached names to the different articles. I thought there would be less trouble at customs if I did not; so I will just tell you to whom the different articles belong, but will not take the time to do it now. The Russells will probably not be leaving Egypt until the last of May.

I received a good letter from Mother last Tuesday. We had very pleasant March weather. The last few days of the month were quite hot. It is a little cooler today, after a bad sandstorm which we had yesterday afternoon.

Saturday some of our family went to the Barrage but Martha and I did not go. A Miss Vance, a Western friend of Marianna Gray’s from Detroit, Mich. and a tourist, accompanied them.

There is a new lot of tourists in the city. They seem to be a better bunch than the ones just preceding them. Quite a crowd of them were out at church 4) last Sabbath night. Ruth Mitchell introduced me to a Mr. and Mrs. Coxgrave, I think was the name, from Cambridge, Ohio. They had heard of you, Willard. Tomorrow afternoon some acquaintances of Miss Hosack's brother in Carnegie, Pa. are coming to tea. An editor and a banker, both from Pittsburg, are among them. This party of tourists did not get to go up country because of the hot weather.

John and Pearl McCleery are going to stop off in Assiut for some time before coming on down to Cairo.

Susannah and I received another Round Robin last week which contained a letter from Faith, written about a week after her Mother's death. It was such a sweet, unselfish letter. I read some other letters from Muskingham that Susannah had gotten and practically all mentioned the broken St. Clair - Wishart engagement.

Supper is over. I will just say a few more words and then say goodnight.

Miss Lynn, Tarkio’s Dean of Women, and her niece Miss Elizabeth Peck, were at our house for supper tonight. Miss Lynn and Clarice Bloomfield were reminiscing and I heard Prof. Morrison Giffen’s name mentioned several times.

Miss Palmer, a teacher of Bible in White’s Bible School, was at our house for dinner again one evening last week. She had visited Palestine since her former call at our house and, because she is a Bible-student, it was so interesting to hear her tell of the things she had seen there.

Last Tues. afternoon we had an eclipse of the sun that was very apparent. Before I thought of an eclipse I wondered why everything was getting so dark when the sun was still shining, - and shining in mid-heaven.

Good night kisses and much love to you each one from Dora.